1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printer device, and particularly to a printer device that is disposed in a digital camera and prints images shot by the digital camera on a photosensitive material such as photographic printing paper.
2. Description of the Related Art
Printer devices employ a system in which an image is recorded on a thermal recording material using a thermal recording head or a system in which an image is recorded on a photosensitive material by exposure to light using a recording head that irradiates light.
As a thermal printer device, the technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication (JP-A) No. 5-268436 (Patent Document 1) has been proposed. In the technology disclosed in Patent Document 1, an image is recorded on a photosensitive material by detecting the temperature of a recording head with a thermistor, controlling the temperature of the recording head on the basis of the detected temperature, and scanning the recording head, whereby it is possible to scan the photosensitive material at a proper temperature.
As a light exposure printer device, the technology disclosed in JP-A No. 2000-280527 (Patent Document 2) has been proposed. In the technology disclosed in Patent Document 2, an image is recorded by irradiating a photosensitive recording medium with light from a LED via a liquid-crystal shutter and controlling exposure/non-exposure (i.e., whether or not to expose a region on the recording medium) with the liquid-crystal shutter.
In the technology disclosed in JP-A No. 2001-63176 (Patent Document 3), a printer device that includes recording means for forming an image on recording media, a cassette that houses the recording media, paper supply means for removing the recording media one sheet at a time from the cassette, and conveyance means for conveying the recording media has been proposed in which the relative positions of the recording media and the recording means and the conveyance means are displaced in the direction in which the recording media are conveyed. In this printer device, scanning is effected and an image is recorded on the recording media by the displacement of the relative positions of the recording media and the recording means and the conveyance means.
As a printer device that prints an image shot by a digital camera on a photosensitive material such as photographic printing paper, an electronic camera disposed with a printer has been proposed in JP-A No. 11-215456 (Patent Document 4).
However, with a thermal recording head, even if temperature is detected, when consideration is given to excessive heat and balance with media such as photosensitive material, it is difficult to control the recording head temperature and control the speed at which the recording head moves for improving photographic printing speed.
There has also been the problem that, in printer devices using a light-exposure recording head in which exposure/non-exposure is controlled using a liquid-crystal shutter as in the technology disclosed in Patent Document 2, response speed of the liquid-crystal shutter varies due to atmospheric temperature, whereby it is not possible to obtain a proper exposure amount.